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FIRST Robotics account suggestion

VrmithraxVrmithrax Member Posts: 1 EDU
Just putting this out there as a suggestion...  The collaboration and efficiency of Onshape could mesh very well with FIRST Robotics teams (particularly FRC teams), where many struggle with revision controls and library issues during their building seasons.  Onshape already has educational accounts for students and educators, which is great.  However, many of the volunteer mentors for FRC teams are not educators, but are industry professionals who are bringing their experience and knowledge to help provide guidance for the students.  Some teams are not associated with an educational institution at all, in fact.  So, it is usually not practical to try something like Onshape when there is a large segment of the technical backbone of an organization that does not have access.

Allowing licenses for FIRST team members and mentors (not just students and educators) would be a great way to win hearts and minds of industry professionals and technical-minded students involved in STEM educational programs.  Autodesk is already doing this, and provides 3 year licensing to mentors and students for a huge array of their software (AutoCAD, Inventor Pro, Maya, etc.).  Solidworks also has some sponsorship and involvement in FIRST teams, though not as widespread as Autodesk.  Just seems like Onshape is missing out on a great opportunity to gain some exposure to future engineers and designers, during their formative years.

Comments

  • noanoa Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 141
    Hi @chris_lambert753, we very much agree and that is why we worded the terms of the Education Plan carefully to include mentors of FIRST robotics teams. You'll notice the phrase is "I am a current faculty member or volunteer at an accredited educational institution." Of course, the second phrase is important too: "I agree to use this plan for classroom instruction, student learning projects, school clubs/organizations, and academic research. I will not use this plan for government, commercial, or other organizational use."

    As long as this is respected, mentors may sign up for the Education Plan. Simply identify as "Educator." 

    p.s. we are actually collaborating with FRC now and will provide a special signup form that breaks that down more clearly.
    Noa Flaherty / Customer Success / Onshape Inc.
  • thomas_kozakthomas_kozak Member Posts: 38 ✭✭
    @noa This is a fair point, but as Chris mentioned not all FIRST teams are associated with an educational institution (most are, probably).  An explicit FIRST license would solve this as well as help generate some OnShape visibility.

    @chris_lambert753 That said, what's stopping you from using free plans? My FTC team uses OnShape pretty extensively (although I'm still trying to get them on board with actual collaboration...).  Given that many teams publish their designs already in the spirit of coopertition I don't see why a FIRST team would require the secrecy which is going to be the main benefit of a Pro/Education account.
  • justin_36justin_36 Member Posts: 23 EDU
    FRC 2090 in Honolulu had great success in the Stronghold season. Not only did collaboration and version history help immensely, half of our core CAD team was new to CAD in December and very quickly was up to speed through Onshape.

    Glad to hear from Noa that there will be an official FRC partnership.

    We are continually learning how to best teach CAD to our middle and high school students in a context where there isn't a whole class dedicated to learning CAD.

    Aloha,
    Justin
  • Ian_RumseyIan_Rumsey Member Posts: 2
    noa said:
    Hi @chris_lambert753, we very much agree and that is why we worded the terms of the Education Plan carefully to include mentors of FIRST robotics teams. You'll notice the phrase is "I am a current faculty member or volunteer at an accredited educational institution." Of course, the second phrase is important too: "I agree to use this plan for classroom instruction, student learning projects, school clubs/organizations, and academic research. I will not use this plan for government, commercial, or other organizational use."

    As long as this is respected, mentors may sign up for the Education Plan. Simply identify as "Educator." 

    p.s. we are actually collaborating with FRC now and will provide a special signup form that breaks that down more clearly.
    Greetings,
    Is there an updated status on the FRC/FTC collaboration here in August 2022?  I'm a coach of a community (non-school) FTC team that has team members from many schools (including a few home-schooled), and non-teacher mentors.  The "Sign Up" buttons from both of the pages below take you to a second screen that has required fields for school, school web site, etc.  Is there a way to sign up my whole team with education accounts in this scenario?

    https://www.onshape.com/en/education/programs-and-partners/first
    and
    https://www.onshape.com/en/blog/how-to-onboard-your-first-robotics-team

  • Domenico_DiMareDomenico_DiMare Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 85
    Hi @Ian_Rumsey

    Excited to have your team use Onshape!  

    To get your team signed up, just have each student/mentor sign up and put in their school and school's website.

    For students/mentors that are home schooled or not associated with a school, they can put in your team's name and website if you have one or a home school program/association. The updated terms of the education account allow for any student or mentor of a qualified competition to sign up for an education plan.
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